Sea Squirts
Sea squirts (ascidians or tunicates) are sedentary animals that live attached to rocks. Most commonly found washed up is the orange-red Sea Tulip with its stalk and two openings. Often found also are the colonial sea squirts – squashy objects with many small openings.
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Ascidian or Sea Squirt (Chordata: Ascidiacea) Also called tunicates because of their tough outer covering or “tunic”, the ascidians are sedentary, filter-feeding animals.
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Sea Tulip Pyura australis (Chordata: Ascidiacea) This is a solitary, stalked species of sea-squirt. Water is pumped into the animal through an inhalant siphon and after being filtered for tiny food particles is ejected through an exhalent siphon. |
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A Sea Squirt (Chordata: Ascidiacea) This is another solitary, stalked species of ascidian related to the Sea Tulip. Ascidians have a free-swimming larval stage like a small tadpole that only lives for a few hours before settling on a suitable surface and transforming into an adult sea squirt. Features of the larval stage indicate that ascidians are related to the fishes and other backboned animals. |
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Colonial Ascidian or Sea Squirt (Chordata: Ascidiacea) This is a colonial species, in which individuals divide to form a colony.
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